Page 95 - Lost Book Remedies
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The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

        are not available, use Lamb’s Quarters Decoction on     bring down fevers, and acts as an expectorant to help
        the skin as a wash or in a compress.                    the body get rid of excess mucous. It also has anti-asth-
                                                                matic properties and contains Vitamin C.
        Dental
        Health      and                                         Harvesting: Break off or prune the top two inches
        Tooth  Decay:                                           (5 cm) of shoots. The tops are more tender and less bit-
        Use  a  Lamb’s                                          ter.  Choose  plants  from  secluded  places,  away  from
        Quarter  Decoc-                                         roadways, industrial areas, and waste sites where they
        tion to treat tooth                                     may pick up high levels of nitrates and other toxins.
        decay  and  bad                                         Wash the leaves before use.
        breath.  Apply  a                                       Warning: Lamb’s quarter is an edible plant that has
        drop or two of the                                      very little risk when used in moderate amounts. How-
        decoction     di-                                       ever, the plant does contain saponins in small quanti-
        rectly  onto  the                                       ties. Saponins are broken down by the cooking process.
        tooth or rinse the                                      Like many green, leafy vegetables, it also contains ox-
        mouth  with  the                                        alate  crystals,  which  are  not  recommended  in  large
        liquid.  It  calms                                      amounts for people susceptible to kidney stones.
        inflammation
        and  pain.  You                                         Recipes.  Lamb’s  Quarter  Decoction:  Shred
        can also chew on                                        fresh lamb’s quarter leaves into small pieces and pack
        the raw leaves.    Young goosefoot, 6th Happiness, CC by SA 3.0   into a cup to measure. Place the leaves in a pot and add
                                                                an equal measure of water. Bring to a boil and simmer
        Colds, Flu and General Illness: Serve lamb’s            for 10 minutes. Once the herbs are wilted, add more
        quarters as a vegetable when people have a cold or flu   water only if needed to cover the herbs. Cool the decoc-
        with respiratory problems. It functions as a mild anal-  tion and strain out the leaves. Keep in the refrigerator
        gesic  to  relieve  body  aches,  induces  perspiration  to   for up to 3 days. (The leaves can be eaten if desired).




        Lavender,

        Lavandula angustifolia


        Common  lavender  belongs  to  the  Lamiaceae  (Mint)
        Family.  It is also known as garden lavender, common
        lavender,  narrow-leaved  lavender,  true  lavender,  or
        English lavender.
        Identification: Common lavender grows 1 to 3 feet
        (0.3m to 0.9meters) high in gardens. It has an irregu-
        lar,  erect,  bluntly-quadrangular  and  multi-branched
        stem that is covered with a yellowish-grey bark, which
        comes off in flakes.  It is covered with fine hairs.    one another. The flowers of lavender are very shortly
                                                                stalked. The calyx of lavender is tubular and ribbed,
        The leaves of lavender are opposite, entire, and linear.   purple-grey  in  color,  5-toothed  (one  tooth  is  longer
        When young, they are white with dense hairs on both     than  the  others)  and  hairy.  The  shining  oil  glands
        surfaces. When full grown, leaves are 1 1/2 inch-long   amongst the hairs are visible through a lens. Most of
        (3.75 cm) and green, with scattered hairs on the upper   the oil yielded by the flowers is contained in the glands
        leaf  surface.  The  flowers  grow  in  terminating,  blunt   on the calyx. The two-lipped corolla is a beautiful blu-
        spikes from young shoots on long stems. The spikes are   ish-violet color. It mostly lives and prefers dry grassy
        composed  of  whorls  of  flowers,  each  having  6  to  10   slopes amongst rocks, in exposed, usually parched, hot
        flowers, and the lower whorls are more distant from     rocky situations often on calcareous soils. While not


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